Not applicable
Not applicable
This invention relates to dispensers used in bodies of water where the water level rises and falls. It is particularly well suited to dispense cleaning and/or freshening chemicals into such bodies of water, to thereby clean such tanks (or containers downstream there from such as a toilet bowl) which hold the treated water.
A variety of dispensers exists for automatically dispensing one or more chemicals into a water tank. These often have a hook mechanism which hangs the dispenser from the top of a tank wall under the lid, with a portion of the dispenser suspended in the tank water when the tank is filled. See e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,924,142; 5,903,930; 5,551,095; 5,038,417; 4,916,760; 4,915,260; 4,696,414; 4,660,231; 4,534,071; 4,436,269; 4,346,483; 4,285,074; 4,189,793; 4,101,043; 3,883,024; 3,874,007; 3,841,524; 3,698,021; 3,545,014 and 2,587,388. See also GB 2,167,041 and EP 1,026,331. The disclosure of these patents and of all other publications referred to herein are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,488,742 discloses a toilet tank dispenser hangable by a U-shaped bracket from a toilet tank wall. The bracket supports an upwardly open cup that can receive an inverted disinfectant container. The container has a mouth sealed by a pierceable foil membrane that is pierced open by a projection housed near a lower portion of the cup. However, the cup does not sufficiently envelop the bottle to provide secure support or assurance of an air pathway to vent the bottle. Moreover, the bottle is somewhat difficult to remove. Further, the mounting hook is somewhat awkward to use.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,024 describes the desirability of a type of pivotal hanger that can be compactly stored during shipment and pivoted out to a locked position. However, it does not describe a system for automatically moving the hanger to a operational position simply by removing a bottle.
A variety of bottles are known which have integral side or top handles formed by a through hole in the container. However, Applicants are not aware of a bottle provided with a through handle adjacent a base, much less such a structure with an adjacent cut out for accommodating hook storage. Such a bottle would have been assumed to have too high of a center of gravity, and thus have a propensity to tip.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved dispenser.
In one aspect the invention provides a dispenser for use in a tank that has a liquid level that rises and falls (e.g. water in a toilet tank). There is a container having a bottom, side walls, a top, an upper outlet, and an internal cavity. There is also an upwardly open holster for receiving the container with the container in an inverted position so that the upper outlet of the container is inside the holster, and so that a majority of the outside surface area of the side walls of the container is inside the holster. It is desirable that the container contains a dispensable product (e.g. a toilet bowl cleaner; a disinfectant).
In especially preferred forms there is a valve associated with the holster for controlling the dispensing of the dispensable product from the container in response to liquid level changes in the tank. The valve can have an air passage for permitting air to vent the container as the dispensable product is dispensed, and/or a piercing post extending upwardly. Where there is a piercing post, the container will have at least a portion of a pierceable membrane associated with the upper outlet of the container.
The enveloping nature of the holster helps insure that the fill level of the tank will be below the top of the holster, thereby preserving an air passageway to vent the bottle. Further, the enveloping nature of the holster inhibits the bottle from being accidentally knocked off the dispenser unit.
During storage and shipment the mouth of the bottle can be sealed with a foil seal. Thereafter, a protective cap can be removed, and the mouth of the bottle can be driven down against the piercing post to break open the seal of the bottle. This helps avoid spills when the bottle is inserted.
In another aspect the invention provides a dispenser for use in a tank that has a liquid level that rises and falls, albeit where a particular hook mechanism is provided (regardless of the degree of enveloping of the holster). In this embodiment the container also has a recess in a side wall adjacent its bottom. There is a hook linked to the holster suitable to mount the dispenser on a tank wall such that the hook is pivotally mounted on an essentially horizontal axis to move from a first position overlying a portion of the container adjacent the recess to a second position outward of the container. Upward movement of the container while removing the container from the holster can drive the hook from the first position to the second position. This construction provides a compact configuration for shipment in which the hook can be mounted in its locked installed position simply by removing the container from the holster.
In this regard, if desired, the hook can have laterally projecting tabs, and the holster can have a slot adjacent its upper end. Where these structures are provided pivoting of the hook from the first position to the second position can drive the projecting tabs into snap engagement with sides of the slot. This provides a secure interlock to fix the hook in the second position.
Given that in a preferred form the holster envelops most of the bottle, absent other modifications as described below, it would be difficult to obtain a good grip on the bottle to remove it, particularly if humidity in the tank has caused condensation on the bottle sides. Thus, in another aspect of the invention a specialized bottle is provided.
In this regard, the bottle can have a housing with a bottom, side walls, a top, an internal cavity suitable to contain a dispensable product, an outlet adjacent the top of the bottle connected to the cavity, and a through passageway extending between opposed side walls adjacent, but not at, the bottom. Such a structure would be thought to have too high a center of gravity to be a desirable structure (due to tipping concerns). However, given the present application where the normal use is in an inverted position, this is not of concern.
In a preferred form the bottle passageway can have at least two lobes to facilitate gripping of the bottle by two fingers extended through the bottle passageway.
The bottle container can be made of an essentially rigid plastic. The preferred product placed in the container is a cleaning agent selected from the group consisting of liquid or flowable gel. For toilet bowl cleaners, a variety of the known flowable concentrated toilet bowl cleaning materials currently recommended for use in toilet tank water can be used, or others can be developed using surfactants, dyes, fragrances and/or other cleaning agents such as acids and chelating agents. For swimming pools, known flowable pool cleaning and/or water treatment chemicals can be used.
In yet another aspect the invention provides such a dispenser (regardless of degree of enveloping of the holster) where the side walls of the container and internal walls of the holster have compatible sloping to permit guided nesting of the two. If desired, instead of a pivotable hook the hook can be integrally formed with the holster in a fashion suitable to permit the mounting of the holster on a toilet tank wall at a defined distance below the top of the tank wall. This embodiment has the advantage of insuring proper alignment of the bottle relative to the piercing and venting structures. Further, it provides assurance to the consumer that the dispenser will be mounted at a correct height (e.g. too high a height does not allow the float valve to function properly; too low a mounting may let tank water spill into the holster).
A better understanding of these and other features and advantages of the present invention can be had by reference to the drawings and to the accompanying description, in which there are illustrated and described preferred embodiments of the invention.